In the last four months, the Kapaeeng Foundation has recorded nine serious attacks. Four Jummas have been killed, four raped and two children assaulted.

The most recent victim was 32-year-old Pratima Chakma. Her body was discovered on October 1 in a ditch in Kamalchari village. She had been raped and then killed.

In July, five year-old Mong Nuching Marma, from the Marma tribe (one of the largest in the CHT), was killed, along with his grandfather and his mother. They had reportedly been trying to stop a Bengali settler raping a 15 year-old relative. Villagers allege that the perpetrator is known to have been involved in a land dispute with the family.

Land disputes between Bangladesh’s indigenous Jummas and hundreds of thousands of settlers brought to the region by the government are commonplace, often resulting in violence.